Gathering up the assignment
book, I start walking back toward Mrs. Davis’s desk when I run into
something. I sprawl on the floor, my ass pounding in discomfort as the papers
and book skitter away from
me.

“Damn,” I
mutter to myself.

That’s when I start
to look up and see it wasn’t a something I ran into but a
someone. A really tall someone. A really
handsome someone with green eyes and a head full of
disheveled brown hair. My throat tightens and my heart beats just a smidge
faster as I look up from my squatted
position.

“Are you okay?
I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there,” he says as
he reaches down to grab my
hand.

I place my shaking hand in his
and am amazed how tightly he grips me. Not painful but strong, sure, almost as
if he was meant to always hold my hand. The fit of our hands is perfect with
just the right amount of
symmetry.

“Yeah I’m
fine,” I grunt as he pulls me off the floor. I brush the dust off my
jeans and sweater.

“It’s
my fault. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and then I
got turned around back here. It’s kind of a
maze.”

“I hear you there. It
took me a while to figure it out my first time back here. Are you
new?”

He gives me a smile that has my
heart skipping a beat. Whoa. That’s a strange
reaction.

“I will be. I start
on Monday, so I was just kind of wandering around trying to find stuff. I guess
I got lost.”

I laugh, and his smile widens.
“I guess you did. Well, what are you looking for? Maybe I can help
point you in the right direction.”

He pulls out a piece of paper
from his pocket and studies it for a second. While he’s looking over
the paper, I take the moment to examine him further. He’s tall but
not overly tall, and lean but not skinny. The long-sleeved shirt he’s
wearing shows off enough to let me know he takes care of himself. Not buff but
definitely muscular, judging from the way his body narrows at the waist. And he
looks good in jeans. Really good. Damn good. Like the boy-next-door
good.

I
shake my head, shameful of where my thoughts were going. I have no idea who
this guy is or how he ended up back in the teacher’s lounge. But if
he’s a new student starting Monday I need to find out what classes he
has. Maybe this school year can be salvaged after
all.

“I’m
looking for Mr. Herman’s office. Someone told me it was back this
way.”

I shake my head. “No,
not back here. He’s in the main office, next to Mr.
Leonard’s office. Mr. Herman is the vice
principal.”

He rolls his eyes and it makes
me smile. It’s nice to know I’m not the only person who
does that anymore.

“Of course. I should
have known that.” He looks around for an exit and returns my gaze
with wide eyes. “So how do I get out of
here?”

“This way,”
I say trying to suppress my giggle. I place the grade book and papers on Mrs.
Davis’s desk and show the good-looking stranger the way out of the
lounge.

“Why do they make
this so confusing?” he asks.

“It’s
difficult to say. My guess is so students don’t go wandering back
here without permission. Unless you’re back there all the time, you
never know whose office is whose or the way to get out without losing your
mind.”

“I’ve seen
labyrinths that were easier to navigate than
this.”

I laugh and he smiles again at
me. “Supposedly when the school got remodeled they forgot to add the
teacher’s offices. So it was a last minute thing, throwing together
walls behind this study room, hiding it from the students prying
eyes.”

“So the teachers have
an office and a classroom?”

I nod. “Yep.
It’s better that way really. This way the students can’t
break into the desks in the classrooms and change their grades and stuff like
that.”

“Good
idea.”

He’s wearing some
sort of cologne and it smells like heaven. And it’s not overpowering
like some of the other guys around the school. Walking near them is like
walking by the Abercrombie store, just makes your head instantly hurt. But his
is subtle, blending perfectly into him and whatever pheromones he’s
giving off, making him that much more
appealing.

“So this is the main
office. They’ll be able to help you out with anything
else.”

I look down at my boots and
scuff them against the floor. For some reason, I don’t want to leave.
I’m not sure why, though. Maybe because I don’t know his name
yet.

“Thanks for your
help, um. I’m sorry, I guess I never got your name.”

I laugh and hold my hand out to
him. “Britta.”

“James.”

He takes my hand again and
another round of tingles travels between our fingers. The sudden jolt of
electricity surprises me, and I pull my hand back abruptly. James looks down at
me with a slight concern on his face, but I force a smile, trying to play off
my strange reaction.

The bell rings again and I
start backing away. “I better get going to class. Guess
I’ll see you
around.”

He nods and flashes one last
smile in my direction as I back away. “Guess I will. Nice meeting
you.”

Jodie Larson is a wife and
mother to four beautiful girls, making their home in northern Minnesota along
the shore of Lake Superior. When she isn’t running around to various
activities or working her regular job, you can find her sitting in her favorite
spot reading her new favorite book or camped out somewhere quiet trying to
write her next manuscript. She’s addicted to reading (just ask her
kids or husband) and loves talking books even more so with her friends.
She’s also a lover of all things romance and happily ever afters,
whether in movies or in books, as shown in her extensive collection of
both.